William Kay
Lecturer in Statistics, Cardiff University
Place: Ciências ULisboa, C2, Room 2.2.12
6 March 2026 (Friday) – 14:00
Abstract:
Ecology is increasingly defined by rapid growth in data volume, analytical complexity, novel technologies, and statistical innovation. These developments create opportunities for novel insights, but they magnify long-standing challenges in quantitative training. In this talk I reflect on recent, international discussions in this area and synthesise contributions from practitioners across educational contexts, geographies, and career stages to revisit the ongoing discussion about what quantitative education should look like for ecologists.
Rather than advocating for increasingly complex techniques, focus is needed on the principles required for durable quantitative literacy. Training should prioritise foundational concepts: how data are generated, how uncertainty arises, how models reflect ecological systems, and how analytical decisions shape inference. As automated tools and artificial intelligence (AI) become more prevalent – presenting both challenges and opportunities – sound conceptual grounding is essential to ensure the judicious use of quantitative methods.
Consistent themes emerging from engagement with educators, learners and employers is the importance of the pedagogies and people involved in quantitative education. While some standardisation of the concepts and tools ecologists are taught is welcome, quantitative literacy in ecology is ultimately built through context-rich, people-centred pedagogy that embraces diverse learner backgrounds. Achieving this requires coordinated efforts from institutions and practitioners.
Short bio:
Will is a Lecturer in Statistics (Teaching & Scholarship) in the School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, UK. He coordinates the MBiol and BSc Biological Sciences programmes and leads statistics teaching across UG, PGT, and PGR (including doctoral) bioscience degrees (~ 1600 students), as well as staff training. Will trained as an ecologist, earning his PhD in Movement Ecology at Swansea University.
He maintains research interests in animal movement and biodiversity; however, his scholarship now focuses on statistics pedagogy – particularly mitigating anxiety and developing curricula for biologists.
His article on Training Statistics-Savvy Ecologists won Best Contributed Article in The Wildlife Professional. Outside academia, Will is a commercial skipper and voluntary lifeboat coxswain, and enjoys road cycling and family life (including many animal companions!).
A joint CEAUL / CE3C / MARE seminar
These joint CCM seminars are an initiative promoted by the 3 research centers associated with the Ecological Modelling course in DBA. We hope to promote interdisciplinary research within FCUL at the interface of our joint interests.